IMshopping takes the Mahalo route with product recommendations, using humans to research and answer questions submitted on its site, or through a Twitter "@". And it seems to actually work, for the most part.

The answers depend, of course, on what you're asking about, and whether IMshopping has someone on hand (or just awake) that knows about your specific field. On the site this morning, questions about iPhones and Apple laptops were often replied to with suggestions to wait until after Apple's announcements at the World Wide Developers' Conference (a pretty smart move, usually), while a more generic question about USB key drives was met with a semi-helpful suggestion to check out a discount site like Tiger Direct.

So, in some cases, you're going to get an answer that's the very friendly equivalent of "Google it." There's a chance, though, that you'll get a link you didn't know about, or advice that's coming from a fairly independent voice. Signing in through the site lets you save your answers and recommendations to a "folder" you can browse through for purchasing later. Free to use, requires sign-up to save recommendations.